`Career Day' For Zordich, Not Berger

Eagles coach Rich Kotite said yesterday that strong safety Mike Zordich "had a career day" Sunday and that was part of the reason his team was able to win.

But at the same time, Kotite said punter Mitch Berger may have had a career-ending day that almost caused his team to lose.

"I'm bringing in some punters Thursday," Kotite stated in opening up his regular day-after press conference at Veterans Stadium.

"I'm not happy with our punter," he continued. "We almost had two disasters in threegames," he said referring to Berger's low, line-drive punts, one of which the Giants Dave Meggett returned for a touchdown in the season opener and another which set up another long punt return Sunday that was called back by an illegal block.

"I'm not saying I'm going to cut him," Kotite said. But then he added that he's bringing in several replacement candidates. "It's going to be a bunch of them. More than four."

Berger, in what might be his last interview with the Philadelphia press, handled it with class. He said he really can't blame Kotite for looking for someone better, but said he knows he can get better.

"I think they,re bringing in a bunch," this week, he said of his possible replacements.

But he also wishes the Eagles would be patient. "If they want to give me a chance to grow and get better, that would be nice."

He said he's very close to correcting his problem, which he described as very minor. "I'm an inch or two off from where I want to be," he explained. "I know where the mistakes are. It's right on the tip of my fingers and it's getting better every week."

He said one of his problems is he's not getting any breaks, particularly from the wind. He said every time he has the wind behind him, the Eagles are close to the other team's goal and he has to shorten up and try to drop a punt inside the 10-yard line.

Then when he gets a chance to boom a punt with the whole field in front of him, the wind is in his face. "I've charted it and it's happened on nine of my last 10 punts. When you kick into the wind it's not very forgiving."

But he's also been having problems with his kickoffs, one of which sailed out of bounds last week. He said last week was the first time the Eagles had him try to place his kickoffs and he miscalculated a right-to-left cross wind.

"If you send it a little bit (to the left) the wind says, `I don't think a little bit, but a lotta bit'."

Berger, who has become the darling of The Vet's boo-birds for punts whose hang times are often shorter than the snaps from center, said he knows all about the tough Philadelphia fans and said he doesn't necessarily disagree with them.

"They want a good player. They want a professional punter," Berger stated. "They want greatness every single time and I should be able to give them it."

Berger, a rookie sixth-round draft choice out of Colorado, has delivered some booming kicks, but he's also been incredibly inconsistent. Currently he's dead last among the 28 National Football League punters in net average with a mark of 30.5 yards.

Only three punters have had their kicks returned for more yardage than he has -- 118 yards.

Berger, who knows for an NFL kicker that employment or unemployment is often just a phone call away, said that even if the Eagles cut him he's going to work on his flawed technique. "It's something I'm going to correct whether I'm here or not," he declared.

Kotite said Berger obviously has major league leg strength, but added that there's an old coaches saying that goes: "Potential will get you fired."

He said he hasn't considered letting Berger just concentrate on punts and letting placekicker Eddie Murray handle the kickoffs. He said of the Berger's dual role, "It's not that hard."

Kotite said that some competition might help Berger, but that his motivation hasn't been the problem. "He's a good kid and he's working hard," Kotite said.

The Eagles head coach said that Zordich, on the other hand, was not only working hard, but producing, like he did Sunday when he had a diving interception in the end zone, sparked a second-half rally with a fumble recovery on the first play from scrimmage and led the Eagles with seven tackles and knocked down a pass.

He currently ranks third on the team in tackles behind linebackers Byron Evans and Willie Thomas with 19 tackles (nine solos and 10 assists).

"He had a career day," Kotite said of Zordich, the former Penn State standout, who had started most of the last three seasons at strong safety for the Arizona Cardinals.

With most of the free agent traffic heading from Philadelphia to Phoenix in the off season, Zordich bucked the traffic and is happy the way things worked out.

So is Kotite, who boomed, "He's given us something I haven't seen since I've been here."